Feitoria

As we entered the restaurant we were met by a big room with round tables covered with white linen. There were large windows on the sides with a view of the Tagus River and the city of Lisbon. The atmosphere felt classic and of high standard with a modern touch. The menu consisted of a mix of local fish and meat that were introduced as the waiter would bring out the products in their raw form and explain the origin of the animal, where they were caught and so on.

Even though the Michelin stars are indicators of the quality of the food and not the service, it is of course quite an important part of the experience. In this case the service staff were meticulous and had the ability to be relaxed and friendly but at the same time very professional and at all time attentive. As an example, if you were to sit down suddenly a waiter would stand behind you and gently help you with the chair – almost unnoticed. As one of us joked, if we had a medical emergency it would probably turn out that the waiters also were trained medical doctors ready to intervene.

Although service is important it cannot compensate for the main part of the show, which of course is the food. In that regard we enjoyed an 8 course menu with its focus on the local seafood. Most of the dishes were innovative and very well balanced. One of the dishes consisted of a pasta where the pasta itself was made of octopus meat with a bottom covered in a totally black sauce representing the ink of the octopus. Another dish that we enjoyed was the lobster tail that was accompanied by a very meaty and dark sauce. The sauce was also prepared in front of the table as the waiter brought out some kind of instrument to be able to extract the stock of the lobster. Incredibly good with a great presentation. Even the meat dish (pork neck) was very good with a great texture and presentation as well. Overall we have very little negative to say when it comes to the food. It is also worth mentioning that there were plenty of in between dishes and palate cleansers which also added to the experience. For example we were given a meringue that flavor wise exploded in the mouth with a fresh taste of mint at the same time as smoke would come out of the mouth. Apparently the meringue was dropped in dry ice to achieve this effect.

The whole experience went on for roughly four hours and we were full and very pleased in the end, but also kind of left with a sad feeling that the experience had to end.